San Diego

Employers whose workers are injured on the job by drunken drivers cannot obtain damages for interference with their business operations, a state appellate court ruled Monday.

In a case involving an employee of Balloonatiks, a San Diego novelty business, the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that it was unreasonable to conclude that a drunk driver was intentionally disrupting a business when he negligently injured an employee.

Ruling unanimously, the court said the need to limit the proliferation of lawsuits in such cases outweighed the importance of imposing civil liability on drunken drivers.